This invention relates to an apparatus for the handling fibrous material.
In one aspect the invention provides an apparatus for handling fibrous material such as cotton in the form as provided by a mechanical harvesting machine.
In another aspect the invention provides an apparatus for handling picked cotton "in-field". In this aspect the apparatus is provided with wheels and is either towable or self-propelled.
Already known in the area of cotton handling "in-field" is apparatus sometimes referred to as a cotton module. Picked cotton is placed into the cotton module, which is open-floored, and compressed downwardly within the confines of the walls of the module. When no further cotton can be compressed into the module, the back wall of the module is opened and the module is moved forward having a loosely compacted block of cotton sitting on the ground.
The cotton module has a number of problems and disadvantages associated with its use, related mainly to the difficulties which arise when subsequently handling the loosely packed blocks of cotton during relocation from the cotton field and during storage prior to treatment at the cotton gin. In the removal and storage of cotton as handled by a cotton module apparatus, a significant loss of cotton occurs, both "in-field" and by way of deterioration, as storage is almost always in the open at the cotton gin.
Another disadvantage with a cotton module apparatus is that the amount of compression able to be applied to the cotton is limited by the weight of the apparatus, and only a very uneven compaction is possible due to the nature of picked cotton, which tends to form sticky lumps in the collection hopper of the cotton picking machine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for handling fibrous material which is convenient to use and which provides a readily handled bale of compressed material.
It is a further object to provide apparatus for handling picked cotton which may be used "in-field", which reduces the amount of handling required for cotton after picking, and which provides an improved bale of cotton which is readily handled by conventional means, the bale being substantially more weather resistant than those provided by previously available apparatus.